The Flower You Didn't See | Mystery

Chapter 5

"Mr. John?" Asked a male voice.

"Yes. How is Ruby?" He asked.

"John you'd better come to the hospital. Ruby is... not doing well."

He returned three hours later, tired both physically and mentally. As he walked in, he locked the door behind him and plopped onto his favorite spot on the sofa.

When he had arrived at the hospital, Ruby seemed like she always did. Idle, still like a statue, surrounded by wires and machines. She still wore the same hospital gown, still had the bandages on the same wounds, still wore the lack of expression on her face as if she was just sleeping. He couldn't understand what was the difference. That is, until he spoke to her doctor.

John sat opposite to the doctor in his cabin. To his left there was a small shelf with medical books arranged neatly on them. On the table in front of him there were many other books. Dr. Wong was skimming through Ruby's file. His silence started giving John all kinds of anxiety. And then the doctor finally spoke.

"She had vomited again. There was bowel discharge as well. Her heart rate had dropped. It keeps fluctuating. Not to mention the low blood pressure-"

"Then do something about it!" John snapped as he slapped the doctor's table with his fist.

Waiting for John who immersed his face in his hands to calm down, the doctor remained silent for a few seconds just watching him. Obviously, relatives of patients losing their temper in his room was not something new for Dr. Wong. Throughout his medical career that had spanned for over twenty years now, he has had to face many such situations. Initially he used to get upset. He used to feel bad for the relatives and he used to feel pain for the patients. But as time went by, he learned that its better to not be attached to both the patient and to their loved ones. To not feel anything more than sympathy to these vast number of people he met everyday in his life.

Dr. Wong continued, "With her deteriorating health conditions, on top of her accident, I thought I should let you know that her chances of survival are not that high."

John groaned. He looked up at the doctor who had announced such a horrible thing like a news reader announces death toll of natural disasters in screen.

"Then why wasn't I let know of Ruby's deteriorating health conditions when it had happened?" asked John.

"We tried calling you, but we couldn't connect at all," the doc replied.

John raised his eyebrows and looked at the doctor's face in disbelief. He continued, "All we can do right now is wait for a few days. Let's just wait for the report to come fast and meanwhile, pray that she gets better."

"Pray? Are you serious?" Asked an agitated John.

"There is only so much modern medicine can do. Even Ruby isn't responding to our efforts. It's almost as if she has lost the will to live."

John let out a sigh of frustration. Then he turned to the doctor again, "You said she was drugged. What drug was it?"

"I can't tell until the test results arrive, John. Hopefully we'll get the results soon enough."

If only he could find out who had drugged her that night, he wondered as he rested back at home. He was absolutely positive that Ruby wouldn't have taken it on her own. He had always taught her to differentiate right from wrong.

And then it suddenly hit him. He sat up straight thinking. Her friends would know her whereabouts from that night. They might know who had drugged her. He immediately rushed to her room.